Book: Moby Dick, AKA Whale ASMR
Jan. 29th, 2020 09:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Yes, I finished Moby Dick by Herman Melville. I listened to it on audio so that's probably why I was able to finish. I did like it, but I was maybe not paying as close attention to it as I should have. A lot of people have complained about the passages that are just random spurious whale information but I did not find that particularly unpleasant. I liked the reader's voice and I guess the experience of most of the book became some sort of whale ASMR.
I remember hearing a lot of hate for this book when I was an adolescent that I don't really think is warranted. The style, which dips between narrative and information with some bizarre script-like stylistic flourishes honestly reminded me of some pieces of modern media, like Homestuck. Maybe these segments weren't particularly well-done but I think people demanding a straightforward narrative from books, especially ones like this, are misguided. Then again I did not have a high school literature teacher breathing down my neck demanding an interpretation about the whiteness of the whale, though, honestly, I have some opinions about that too.
Anyway if you want the same experience I listened to the version narrated by Pete Cross. It's a bit under 24 hours long and available through Audible and probably otherwise.
I remember hearing a lot of hate for this book when I was an adolescent that I don't really think is warranted. The style, which dips between narrative and information with some bizarre script-like stylistic flourishes honestly reminded me of some pieces of modern media, like Homestuck. Maybe these segments weren't particularly well-done but I think people demanding a straightforward narrative from books, especially ones like this, are misguided. Then again I did not have a high school literature teacher breathing down my neck demanding an interpretation about the whiteness of the whale, though, honestly, I have some opinions about that too.
Anyway if you want the same experience I listened to the version narrated by Pete Cross. It's a bit under 24 hours long and available through Audible and probably otherwise.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-30 04:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-30 02:30 pm (UTC)Melville was a funny guy, I think. I really liked Bartleby as a teenager.